3 Ex-Vikings Could Take Cam Akers’ Spot
The Minnesota Vikings reportedly eyed to re-sign Cam Akers, who they traded for last season. He played in six games before tearing his Achilles. Running backs need every bit of their explosiveness, so suffering two torn Achilles tendons in two years is almost catastrophic. On Sunday, the former second-rounder surprisingly signed with the Houston Texans, so that option is off the board.
3 Ex-Vikings Could Take Cam Akers’ Spot
The good news is that various players, including three former Vikings, could take his role as the third option in the backfield behind Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler.
It should be noted that Adrian Peterson is also technically a free agent. He has not announced his retirement from the NFL, but he will not be listed at age 39 after two seasons without any NFL touches.
Jerick McKinnon
A 2014 third-rounder, Jerick McKinnon, was brought in to allow Adrian Peterson to get an occasional breather. However, Peterson was suspended for most of the 2014 season, and a knee injury cut his 2016 campaign short, so the Vikings relied more on McKinnon than they perhaps wanted to. When, in 2017, Dalvin Cook suffered his torn ACL, he was once again suddenly asked to play a meaningful role in the backfield rotation.
Through four seasons with the Vikings, McKinnon rushed for 1,918 yards and 14 touchdowns while adding almost 1,000 yards receiving. Injuries overshadowed an unfortunate stint in San Francisco, followed by an extremely successful tenure as a rotational pass-catching specialist with the Chiefs. In 2022, McKinnon tabulated 512 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns. Now, at age 32, he surely doesn’t have the same explosiveness he had years ago, but the two-time Super Bowl champion could handle a handful of touches per game.
Latavius Murray
Latavius Murray signed with the Vikings in 2017, a few weeks before the team selected Cook in the draft. Once the rookie suffered his knee injury, Murray became the team’s top rusher, forming a solid duo with McKinnon. In two seasons with the Vikings, he recorded 1,460 rushing yards, 244 receiving yards, and 14 touchdowns.
After leaving in 2019, Murray has logged carries with four different teams. Last season, he still registered 300 rushing yards in Buffalo. Unlike Chandler and Jones, Murray is a big runner, and his different style would surely add another dimension to the group, allowing head coach Kevin O’Connell to use the 34-year-old in short-distance situations.
Dalvin Cook
The final former Viking is the aforementioned Cook. His season-ending injury allowed both Murray and McKinnon to shine in 2017. The last couple of seasons have been rough for the former Pro Bowler, but in his prime, Cook was one of the elite RBs in the entire league.
A problem, perhaps too significant to overcome, could be the continued involvement of Minnesota’s current regime around Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell. They released him after the 2022 season to save money. Cook had a disastrous 2023 campaign, playing for two different teams and failing to have any success with either.
He is no longer the workhorse running back he once was, but similarly to the other two, he could be a rotational rusher, a veteran leader in the locker room, and probably be relatively cheap.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this article.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
You must be logged in to post a comment.